Sequester Looms as Republicans Refuse Negotiations

Washington, D.C., is once again on the
verge of another manufactured crisis. On March 1, the sequester, a
series of mandated spending cuts, is set to kick in, threatening the
country with another round of austerity measures that will cut jobs and
bring down an already-fragile economy. But instead of acting to prevent
the cuts, congressional Republicans are playing the blame game and
ignoring the full context of their own obstructionism.

In Ohio, the drastic cuts will force the
federal government to furlough 26,000 civilian defense employees, risk
350 teacher and aide jobs and take away $6.9 million for clean air and
water enforcement, among many other changes. For the entire nation, the
sequester will cut $85 billion by the end of the year, affecting all
sorts of items: national parks, hurricane relief programs, education
programs, food-safety inspection, unemployment benefits and defense
spending.

The cuts are unique because they’re set
to trigger very swiftly. It’s one thing to reduce the nation’s deficits
over time, but cutting spending so drastically in such a short time span
will cause a shock in the nation’s economy — far from ideal when
unemployment and economic growth are already showing signs of slowdown.

In response, President Barack Obama has
taken his arguments to the American people. For the past few weeks,
Obama and other White House officials have been campaigning around the
country and releasing all sorts of documents and infographics to explain
the sequester and its potential consequences. But the campaign hasn’t
sparked much interest from congressional Republicans, who seem
increasingly content with the big spending cuts.

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Rob Portman, an Ohio Republican,
responded to Obama’s campaign in a tweet: “Americans would be better off
if White House spent less time campaigning (about the sequester) and
more time working (with) us to avert it.”

In politics, it’s very easy for
historical context to get lost, but Portman’s tweet does away with any
immediate context as well. The only reason Obama is campaigning is
because attempts to work with congressional Republicans failed so
miserably. The White House and Democrats have repeatedly put out plans
that replace the sequester with a balanced plan that cuts spending in
the long term and closes tax loopholes to produce more revenue.
Republicans have flat-out rejected all the proposals because they refuse
any plan that passes more tax revenue, no matter how sensible it is.

Republicans’ anti-tax position makes even
less sense in a broader historical context. It’s only been four months
since Republicans lost the 2012 election by running against any tax
increases, even on the wealthiest Americans. They lost the White House,
and voters approved more Democrats in the U.S. Senate. Republicans even
lost the popular vote for the U.S. House of Representatives, but they
managed to keep more seats because widespread politicized redistricting
gave them an unfair advantage in congressional maps.

Polling has repeatedly shown Americans
are not OK with a plan that slashes spending and fails to raise taxes. A
recent survey from the Pew Research Center found Americans like the
idea of cutting federal spending in the abstract, but when asked about
specific programs, there was no plan that gained majority support, with
only foreign aid cuts getting plurality support.

Another poll in November from ABC and The Washington Post
found 60 percent of Americans favor a tax hike for those making
$250,000 and more. Only 37 percent of those polled opposed a tax
increase.

Even the wealthy support higher taxes on
themselves. A December survey from American Express Publishing and The
Harrison Group found that more than half of the top 1 percent favor
raising taxes on those making $500,000 and more.

Republicans can blame the White House all
they want, but the sequester is a direct consequence of their party
failing to listen to the average American voter.

Other News and Stuff

A report from Policy Matters Ohio found
local government funding, which helps cities and counties, has been
reduced by $1.4 billion since Gov. John Kasich took office.

Barry Horstman, veteran investigative reporter at The Cincinnati Enquirer, collapsed and died in the newsroom Feb. 25. CityBeat offers its condolences to Horstman’s co-workers, family and friends.